Separate Ways
by Tina101
Summary: With a war on the way, Lily and Severus have chosen their sides, leaving her heartbroken and confused about what's yet to come. Oneshot


Separate Ways 

It was a beautiful April day, and it felt like every student at Hogwarts had drifted outside to enjoy the weather. Lily was walking across the lawn with Alice Longbottom by her side. They talked and giggled about their boyfriends, but their minds were really on the meeting they had attended the night before. Dumbledore had hand selected a small group of seventh years to join a secret organization called the Order of the Phoenix. It was a group dedicated to fighting the rising power of Lord Voldemort. The Order of the Phoenix added a bit of reality to the utopian feeling being at Hogwarts gave its students. However much Lily and Alice wanted to talk about the meeting, they knew that it was unsafe. Dumbledore had said over and over against that they never knew who was listening and what side they were on. It was scary to think that the very people around them would end up fighting against each other in the end.

Lily and Alice were so busy talking that they didn't hear James approach them. Suddenly, he grabbed Lily and spun her around in a circle.

"James!" she shrieked.

"Hey beautiful." He turned to Alice. "Hey Alice."

"Hello James," she said politely. The clock tower chimed. "Oh, I've gotta go. Bye," she said before rushing off towards the school. James and Lily gave each other knowing looks. Alice was rushing back to see Frank.

James entwined his fingers with Lily's, and they began to walk across the lawn in their own little world.

"So, Mr. Potter, what are your big plans for today?" she asked. He swung their arms back and forth.

"I have Quidditch practice," he said almost sadly. She pouted.

"I was hoping we could spend some time together."

"I know, and I'm sorry." He pecked her lightly on the cheek. "I'll make it up to you; promise."

"Okay."

"I've gotta go, I can't be late. Love you," James said quickly before bolting across the lawn towards the Quidditch pitch.

"Love you too!" Lily called after him. She couldn't tell if he heard her or not. If he did, he didn't act like it. Quidditch was always going to be his first love, and however annoying that may be; Lily knew that she had to accept that in order for their relationship to work. That's normally why all his old girlfriends had dumped him, that and the fact that he was completely obsessed with her.

Lily took a seat in the shade of a secluded oak tree and pulled her homework out of her backpack. She might as well be somewhat productive while James was at practice. As she worked, she heard a low murmur of voices. She couldn't figure out where these voices were coming from; she was seat far away from everyone else. Lily decided to ignore the whispers and keep on working. After all, she knew that James would be begging for her help on their homework later.

After about fifteen minutes, Lily heard footsteps from the other side of the tree. She kept her eyes downcast, but used her peripheral vision to see several Slytherins emerge from the woods behind her; Severus Snape included. He saw her and stopped.

"Severus, are you coming?" Lucius asked.

"I think I left something back there, I'll catch up." The Slytherins seemed reluctant to leave but still made their way back up to the castle. Lily knew what he was doing and simply waited.

Once Lucius and his friends were out of sight, Severus took a seat on the ground next to Lily. It was the first time they had been able to talk in months.

"Lily, I need to talk to you," he started. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "We can't talk to each other anymore after this. I'm sorry." When he got up to leave, Lily scrambled to her feet too.

"Severus, wait! Where is this coming from? This isn't like you." Pain was written across her face as she struggled to figure out her old friend's strange and sudden behavior.

"Times are changing, Lily; you of all people should know that." Severus turned to leave, but she grabbed his wrist firmly. For someone so small, she was surprisingly strong.

"_Please_ Severus." The skin on his wrist was unusually warm. She turned his wrist over and yanked up the sleeve of his robe. Glaring up at her was the Dark Mark. "Severus, no," she breathed. He wrenched his arm away from her. "No, no!"

"I'm telling you this for your own safety."

"You can still stop this. Nothing's happened yet, nobody knows." Lily was desperate to turn all of this around before it got out of hand.

"People do know. This is what I am, and I can't change that; just like you can't change what you are." It felt to her as if the world was spinning and the ground under her was tilting.

"What am I, Severus?" she demanded. He looked hesitant to answer her question and own up to his actions. "Tell me!" she screamed as tears of fury streamed down her face.

"You're a mudblood, Lily." She was stunned. It all the years she had known Severus, he had _never_ been so blunt and rude to her. He looked at her with pain in his eyes before leaving.

Lily was stunned. She grabbed her bag and fled to the safety of Hogwarts Castle. Tears ran down her cheeks, blurring her vision. She was so upset that she ran right into someone.

"Whoa! Wait, Lily?" It was Remus. "What happened? What's wrong?" She broke down into a fresh wave of choking sobs. "Here, come on." He wrapped his arm around her protectively and led her to a deserted classroom nearby. Lily was James' girl, and the Marauders had taken it upon themselves to keep an eye out for her when he couldn't.

in the empty classroom, Lily took a seat in the first chair she could get to, and Remus took a seat across the aisle from her.

"What happened? I've known you for seven years and _never_ seen you so upset," he said. She wiped her eyes and took several deep, shaky breaths. Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, she found herself spilling out everything that had happened outside with Severus. Remus listened carefully without interruption. He was a far better listener than James. James always interrupted her with stupid questions and remarks.

When she was done, all Remus could say to her was, "I honestly don't know what to tell you, Lily."

"I was just shocked by this." He reached across the aisle and put his hands over hers.

"I know, he was a friend of yours, and now he's chosen a different path than you. Times are changing, Lily, and we're all going through things like this." He paused. "I can think of one good thing about this."

"What's that?"

"You didn't have a chance to tell Severus anything important about the Order."

"You make him sound like the enemy!" Lily cried as she got to her feet.

"He is, Lily, and you need to accept that." He stood up too. "I know it's rough, but you've just got to accept that." He wrapped his arms around her. "Are you better now?"

"Yeah, I guess so." The classroom door opened.

"Oh, sorry," Professor McGonagall said. "Is everything alright Ms. Evans, Mr. Lupin?" Lily pulled away from Remus and wiped her eyes some more with her sleeves.

"Yeah, everything's fine," she mumbled before slipping past Professor McGonagall and rushing in the direction of her dorm.

"Are you sure everything's alright?" Remus nodded.

"Lily's just having a rough day." He shouldered his bag. "I'll see you later, Professor." He nodded towards her politely before exiting the room too.

After Quidditch practice, James was walking across the lawn with Sirius. Peter had caught up with them and was plotting a new escapade with Sirius.

"As Head Boy, I'm not hearing this," James said.

"Come on, Prongs, you know the only reason you were made Head Boy was to knock some sense into you," Sirius joked as he ruffled his best friend's hair playfully.

"And the sad thing is, it worked," Peter added. James shoved both of his friends in response to the constant jeers about his position as Head Boy.

"Prongs! Prongs!" Remus yelled. He ran across the lawn and skidded to a less than graceful stop in front of the other Marauders.

"What's up, Moony?"

"Lily's really upset and needs you," he replied as he caught his breath.

"Why? What happened?" James demanded. Already, he was seething.

"You need to talk to her, not me." He said goodbye to his friends and ran to the castle as fast as he could to see what was wrong.

Lily was curled up on the couch in the Common Room between her and James' rooms. She only wanted to be alone, so when she heard the portrait hole swing open, she was less than thrilled.

"Lily, what's wrong?" James asked in a soothing voice. He knelt down next to her and brushed her hair out of her face. Tears slowly ran down her cheeks.

"I don't want to talk about it." He kissed away her tears softly. All he had to do was wait; it wouldn't take long for Lily to crack. After a few minutes, she found herself telling him everything that she had told Remus. Surprisingly enough, he listened carefully to her story. By the time she was done, however, James was furious.

"I'll kill him!" he roared as he stood up. His face was red with anger as he stood up. She sat up.

"Please James, don't," she pleaded as she grabbed his hand desperately. "Please don't, I'm fine." He noticed how exhausted she looked. Dark circles were starting to form under her pain filled emerald eyes.

"Fine, _I_ won't, but I have no control over what my friends do." Lily giggled. "Why don't you take a nap?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Please? For me?" He began to pout and bat his eyes causing her to laugh some more.

"Fine, as long as you _never_ do that again."

"Deal." James kissed her lightly. She lay back down and conjured up a blanket. The blanket settled over her curled up form. It didn't take long for sleep to claim her.

By the time dinner rolled around, Lily was still fast asleep, and James didn't have the heart to wake her. She was having a rough day and needed her rest. To make matters worse, it was her turn to make rounds that night. James decided that he could manage another night of rounds on his own; she'd do the same for him. He planted a kiss on her forehead before leaving her to go get dinner.

Lily stretched, and her eyes fluttered open. It took her a few seconds to comprehend where she was. She looked at her watch. It didn't even click that she had to make rounds that night. She got up with her blanket wrapped around her and trudged over to James' room. It didn't matter to her that he wasn't there. She curled back up on his bed and simply went back to sleep while waiting for him to return.

James was on his way back to his dorm when he heard a strange sound. Curiosity got the better of him, and he took a minor detour. When he got to a secluded nook at the end of the hall, he saw Sirius cursing Severus. The only sound was of Severus being thrown against the cool brick wall. Despite being Head Boy, James left Sirius to his work. He had no regrets as he walked back to his dorm. As far as he was concerned, Severus deserved whatever was coming to him.

When James got back to the Common Room, Lily was gone. He figured that she had gone back to her own room. He was surprised to find a lumpy form curled up on his bed when he opened the door to his room. The vivid red hair told him that it was in fact Lily. He sat on the bed next to her and gently shook her awake.

"Huh? What's wrong?" she mumbled sleepily as she rolled onto her back.

"Nothing, I just wanted to make sure that you're alright."

"Yeah, I'm fine now." James stood up and began to get changed for bed. He wasn't bothered by Lily's presence. Since they were basically roommates (and dating), they didn't practice as much modesty as other people. She sighed contently. "Your bed is comfy."

"It's the same as yours," he chuckled as he sat back down on the bed in his pajama pants.

"No, yours is different."

"How so?" She shrugged. "Fine, don't give me an answer." Without warning, he reached over and began to tickle Lily mercilessly.

"James!" she shrieked. "Stop it!" After another thirty seconds or so, he did release her. She lay on her back and struggled to catch her breath while he hovered over her.

"It worked," he said mischievously.

"What worked?"

"You're smiling now." He paused. "See? You don't need Severus."

"You were trying to cheer me up?" Lily was surprised and utterly pleased by this random act of kindness.

"Yeah, and get you in a good mood for when I tell you that Sirius is taking care of Severus."

"What!?" she demanded as she sat up. "You're Head Boy, why the hell didn't you stop him?"

"We're in the middle of a war, Lily!"

"But we're only seventeen! We shouldn't have to worry about wars! Legally, we're barely adults!"

"I know, I know, but we are." He wrapped his arms around her and held her as close as possible. She buried her face in the nape of his neck and took several deep breaths.

"Can I stay here with you tonight?" she asked. He kissed the top of her head softly.

"Of course." After a few minutes, she pulled away and wiped away nonexistent tears. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, a little," she replied quietly. She lay back down and pulled her blanket around herself. James lay down next to her and draped his arm over her waist. His steady breathing calmed Lily after her meltdown. It didn't take long for her exhaustion to overcome her, and she was asleep.


End file.
